Improvement in bee-hives



Y 3 Sh-eets--SheetL l. P. PEELEFI.

Bee-Hive.

l 3Sheet-sSheet3. ll. P.`P`EEL*EH, Bee-Hive. r No. 168,233, Parenwdsepnzmlavs.

V A I L v NVE TO MQW/2 v "ATTORNEYS N. PETERS, PMOTO-LITHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON. D CA UNITED JS'rA'rEs rafrnlvr @Ferca JOHN FEEDER, OF BOONEVILLE, MISSISSIPPI.

lpMPRovEMENT nu BEE-HlvEs.

i Specification forming-part of Letters Patent No. 168,283, dated September 2B, 18,75; application led .Tuly 31, 1875.

To all whom it mag/concern:

' Be it known that I, JOHN P. PEELER, of Booneville, in the county of Prentiss and State of Mississippi, have invented a new and valuableImprovement in Bee-Hives; and I do hereby decla-re that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construc vation, and Fig. 4 afront elevation thereof;

and Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view. Fig. 6 is a plan view.

This invention has relation to improvements in bee-hives; and the nature of the invention consists in t-he novel construction, arrangement, and co-relation of the `various devices used, as will be hereinafter kmore fully explained.

In the annexed drawings, A designates the body of'my improved hive,- consisting of an upright hollow box, lopen at top, and provided with a fixed bottom, a., slotted from front to rear, as shown at a', and covered with a reticulated metallic material at the part where this slot is made. It is also provided with apertures b at each side, which are closed by means of sliding doors b1, operated from the outside by means ot handles b1. This box is divided into two compartments of unequal size by means of a partition,B, in which are made a wire-covered Ventilating and illuminating aperture,c, and openings b2, closed by means of sliding doors c1, provided with operating-rods c2, extending t-hrough the sides of the box.v The rear ot' this box above and below partition B is provided with one or more gauze-covered apertures, d, which are closed at pleasure by sliding doors d', through which air and light are admitted into the divisions of the box, the front of which is provided with a hinged door, C, through which accessis had to the interior of the hive. In order to inspect the condition ofthe colony and frames D D', arranged respectively in the honey-chamber E and brood-chamber El, formed by par- -The upper end otl box A is coveredby means of a glass plate, g, which is arranged slightly above trames D, and by means of a wooden plate or board, g', which is provided with a vgauze-covered opening, o, tor'xthe purpose of allowing the animal heat of the colony to escape from the body ofthe hive, and yet prevent the bees from penetrating into a supplementary chamber, F, which is detachably secured upon the upper end of the box A, and is provided with a top, F,.which is removably attached to the body ot' the hive by means ot' eyebolts h on the said chamber, and hooks h upon the lid. This chamber is designed to be used as an additional chamber for honey when the lower chambers are full, and a connection is established between it and the lower chamber by removing glass plate g and board g', which are then arranged in a rabbet in the upper end of the added section, and are protected from injury by means of the lid F', which is applied as above described. Section F is designed, like the lower chambers in the body of the hive, to be supplied with honeyframes.

Any desired number of additional, sections, like the one above described, may be successively added, thus enlarging the hive, and producing non-swarming hive. When the beekeeper desires to remove one or more combframes from the upper chamber ot' the hive, the communicating sliding doors being open, and the bee-entrance closed, smoke. is blown into it `through gauze-covered aperture o in board g', thus driving the bees downward into the lower chamber. These intercommunieating doors are then closed, and the contents of the upper chamber may be removed without opposition from the bees. The bees may be in like manner driven out ot' the lower i11- to the upper chamber, the sliding doors c being opened and the bee-entrance closed by blowing smoke through gauze-covered opening f, in board E2, between glass plates e e', and its contents removed without annoyance by the most timid operator. The bee-entrance is formed in the lower edge vof the hive by means ot' a fiat angular tube or passage-Way,G, one end ot'which passes through the bottom of the hive, and the other through the front thereof, near its lower edge, as shown in Fig. 1, and'the exit end of this passage is provided with an inclined projecting ledge, J1?, the Afunctionsot which willhereinafter appear. Beneath the fixed bottom a of the hive,.and in `close ,contact with the lower edges of the sides and ends thereof, which extend down below the level of the said fixed bottom, a detachable second bottom, H, issecured by'means of suitable hooks l, on one end of which is arranged a preferably metallic cloth-covered trough, m, upon which is applied or spread a suitable sticky substance, as yl:1oney,\rnolasses, common tar, and the like, for the purpose of trapping moths, ants, insects, and the like, which-may have obtained accessto Ithe spacelbetweenthe iiXed and detachable bottoms through amothentrance, n, made in the back of the hive. This bottom is also provided with two openings, p 19', the first lof which `is designed sto allow moths attempting to enterthe--bee-entrance to have access to a sticky substance contained `in a can Zor box,.g,.arranged in Lla drawer, I, under the saidbottomfand Ithe-.second .to receive apreterably'reticulatedfeed- ,drawerl beneaththeisame. 7Beneath lledge vbait the under side ot the said ledge is hevyeled, as is also the corresponding upper edge -o'f a'detachable landing, K, suspended by means of hooks s to the lower front edge of the hive. By this means a tapering entrance is made, andthe moths will the more readily ,be decoyed from the beeentrance above into the trap q provided for their capture.

Whatf'I claim as new, and desire to secure l. The combination, with a bee-hive having in its bottom sliding communicating doors b', of a supplementary detachable bottom, H,

V7supporting .a feed-cup, J, and drippingpan 1', substantially as and for thepurpose set forth `2. Therombinatiomwith a bee-hive having a lighted bottom, of the supplementary bottom H having moth feed-panna, the drawer I havfing-inoth-decoy cup q, .and themoth-openings i and m, substantially as described0 In testimony that Iclaim the above I have hereunto subscribed :myname in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN PETER PEELER vWitnesses:

7W. M. ALsoBRooK, lIt. P. .'WALTHALL. 

